AQA AS Level The Struggle for Identity in Modern Literature option

Hi,
Is anybody out there doing this? I am doing the Contextual Linking exam element of the course (sharing the teaching with a colleague) and would love to see an example of an A grade response but there is nothing out there! or I cant find it. I have been using the Nelson Thornes books, which are good but have no sample responses.
Any help or advice would be gratefully received!

Would be great wouldn't it? We have really struggled with this this year and only feel that we're one step ahead of the students at any one time.
I got a sample question paper from AQA when I attended a course last year and it has a mark scheme attached which we found useful.
But that's it! I think I might contact AQA and pester them.

Well, I eamiled AQA on Tuesday and asked if they had a sample answer for the exam question and they didnt. They sent me some advice which i already had but said that was all they had. If you would like me to forward you it leave me your email.
Awful isnt it when youre not sure youre doing things correctly!

Am feeling really insecure in this respect also. It would be a help to have the feedback from the January exams if anyone sat them then, and a sample of that paper. I can't imagine how the thing's going to be marked . We have just sat a mock and used the Martin Luther King speech as the question but I have not the foggiest how to mark it and it was terribly difficult dragging in our wider reading - Top Girls, My Mother Said, The wide Sargasso Sea and some Maya ANgelou poetry. We are doing Duffy in the exam. I think it's appalling there isn't more support out there on this aspect as it's the totally different question and my 17 students are not avid readers (major sarcasm). THey haven't read ANYTHING. Or have no ideaon how to use what they have read in the exam as far as Lang form and structure. Themes and issues are slightly more accessible but I'm not sure how they bring in the L F & S, comparing a political speech to a feminist drama???Any help out there?

I recently managed to get hold of the exam paper that the students took but I was told that AQA weren't releasing any of the actual papers that the kids wrote; not sure why. I really wanted a couple as I thought it would be useful to look at the quality of the work alongside the actual grade they were awarded.

I'm just planning my revision lessons for this unit and am making use of a helpsheet that my coursework adviser wrote and sent out (she did say it'd been sent to all schools but we never received it separately). it's excellent for explaining how to approach the contextual linking section and how to cope if your wider reading does not link obviously with the extract given. She advises that you give students basic writing frames to allow them to change direction into other topic areas eg. 2King's speech primarily concerns the struglly for identity amongst black Americans, but an equally important aspect typical of modern struggles for identity is...." or "Moving on from the subject of ethnic identity, another key area of struggle which has emerged from my wider reading is.." (these are off the top of my head with help from her Victorian egs so not very good!) The paper is called Contextual Linking in LTA1A, LTA1B or LTA1C: Suggested Student Approaches and the author is Nicola Onyett. I'm sure if you contact AQA they could email you the full document. Hope this helps.

Hi there. OMG I have been so depressed looking at the mock responses to the MLK speech contextual llinking. I have no idea how to proceed and help them. WHY sre there no exemplar answers available? Thanks to your helpful email I have emailed AQA and requested the Nicola Onyett doc you mention. So far no response.
Am trying to plan a triple lesson on Monday. Is there any chance you have that email doc available to post to me so I can start with the framework idea. It sounds helpful.
Thanks.

Planned and taught revision class using the doc I mentioned and students felt much better about exam after so it's worth trying to get hold of. Am happy to pass it and my resources on (why reinvent the wheel?)

My class and I are in the middle of rewriting it slightly so that it's a bit more relevant for the Modern Lit option. Can send you that when it's finished if you like. Not sure its much good but use it if it's any good to you!

Hi guys,
Looks like I'm not alone in my concerns regarding this AS level!
If anyone could help me out by emailing me that document it would be much appreciated...
Email = nojco@aol.com
Thanks, and all the best for 20th May!

Jon,
'...all the best for 20th May!'- I cetainly need it! Dreading it and just hoping everything my class and I have figure out together will work out for them. Bless them! they have really tried and I just hope they're ok.

Hi All
I'm struggling like everyone so glad to know I'm not alone. Could someone please send me a copy of that document about the contextual writing? Sounds like gold dust to me!sherenehull@hotmail.com
Good luck for the exams!
....and thanks.